Mortal Kombat II
Developer(s)	Midway
Publisher(s)	Midway, Acclaim
Platform(s)	Arcade, Super NES, Game Boy, Saturn, 32X, Mega Drive/Genesis, Game Gear, Master System, PlayStation, PlayStation 3, PC, Amiga
Release date(s)	1993
Genre(s)	Versus fighting
Mode(s)	Up to 2 players
Input methods	8-way joystick, Buttons: 5 (HP, LP, BLOCK, HK, LK)
Cabinet	Upright
Arcade system	Midway T Unit
Display	Raster, horizontal orientation, 400×254

Mortal Kombat II is a 1993 arcade game and the second title in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series. Acclaim Entertainment stated in an article with the New York Times that it, "...it had started Mortal Kombat II with a $10 million global marketing campaign." ^[1]

[edit] Development

To create the character animations for the game, actors were placed in front of a gray background and performed the motions, which were recorded on a Hi-8 videotape, which had been upgraded since the development of the first title from standard to broadcast-quality. The footage was then processed into a computer, and the background was removed from selected frames to create 64 or 128 color sprites. Towards the end of Mortal Kombat II's development, they opted to instead use a chroma key technique and processed the footage directly into the computer for a similar, simpler process. The actors were sprayed lightly with water to give them a sweaty, glistening appearance, while post-editing was done on the sprites afterward to highlight flesh tones and improve the visibility of muscles, which John Tobias felt set the series apart from similar games using digitized graphics. Animations of characters morphing into something else were created by John Vogel using a computer, while hand-drawn animations were put into effect for other parts of the game, such as the finishing moves (fatalities).^[2]

Care was taken during the programming process to give the game a "good feel", with lead programmer Ed Boon simulating elements such as gravity into the game's design. Tobias noted that the previous game's reliance on juggling the opponent in the air with successive hits was an accident, and had been tightened in Mortal Kombat II. Boon noted the reason to not completely remove it in favor of a different system of chaining attacks together was to set the game apart from titles such as Street Fighter, and allow for players to devise their own combinations of attacks.^[2] Many attacks were kept uniform between characters to prevent from over-complicating gameplay. Due to memory limitations for the title two characters from the original Mortal Kombat, Sonya Blade and Kano were excluded, reasoned by Boon as them being the least-picked characters in the original game, and the development team's desire to introduce more new characters into the game.^[3]

[edit] Storyline

Following his defeat to Liu Kang (in the first Mortal Kombat game), Shang Tsung begs his master, Shao Kahn, to spare his life. He tells Shao Kahn that the invitation for Mortal Kombat cannot be turned down, and if they hold it in Outworld, the Earthrealm warriors must attend. Kahn agrees to this plan, and restores Tsung's youth. He extends the invitation to Raiden, who gathers his warriors and takes them into Outworld. The tournament is dangerous, as Shao Kahn has the home field advantage, and an Outworld victory will unbalance the furies and allow Outworld to subdue Earthrealm.

[edit] Game system

Mortal Kombat II is an extension of the previous game. A few normal moves have been added (crouching punch, for example). The roundhouse kick was made more powerful, and knocks opponents across the screen. Additionally returning characters gained new special moves. The game also introduced multiple fatalities, as well as additional finishing moves to the franchise. However, each character still shared generic attributes – speed, power, jump height and airtime – and all normal moves were the same between each character. As with its predecessor, the only thing differentiating each character were their appearance, special moves, and finishing moves. However, the game plays slightly faster and much more smoothly than the original.

As with its predecessor, matches are divided into rounds. The first player to win two rounds by fully depleting their opponent's life bar is the winner. At this point the loser's character will become dazed and the winner is given the option of using a finishing move. In addition to the Fatalities of its predecessor, the winner could also use Babalities, (turning the opponent into a crying baby). Friendships, (a non malicious interaction such as Scorpion, Reptile and Sub Zero holding up a doll of themselves with text saying "Buy a *character's name* doll!" and stage specific Fatalities. This game also drops the point system from its predecessor, in favor of a win tally.

The characters of Mortal Kombat II have a less digitized and more hand-drawn look to them than in the first game. Both the theme and art style of the game are slightly darker, although with a more vibrant color palette employed. Also, the graphics system now uses a much richer color depth than in the previous game. Mortal Kombat II also strays from the severe oriental theme of its predecessor, though it does retain the original motive in some aspects, as in some of the music. Finally, the nature of the game is slightly less serious with the addition of trivial and 'joke' Fatalities and the addition of alternative finishing moves.

[edit] Characters

MKII character cast screen shot during post-game credits.

[edit] New characters

• Baraka – Tarkatan nomad warlord responsible for the assault on the Shaolin temple.
• Jax Briggs – U.S. Special Forces major who enters the tournament to rescue Sonya Blade from Outworld.
• Kitana – Lost daughter of Sindel (Queen of Edenia) who was enslaved by Shao Kahn, The Emperor of Outworld. She fights to help the warriors of Earthrealm.
• Kung Lao – Shaolin monk and close friend of Liu Kang (descendant of the Great Kung Lao), who seeks to avenge the destruction of the Shaolin temple.
• Mileena – Kahn's personal assassin, and clone of Kitana with Tarkatan traits.
• Sub-Zero – Younger brother of the original Sub-Zero, sent to assassinate Shang Tsung.

[edit] Returning characters

• Johnny Cage – Hollywood actor who joins Liu Kang in his journey to Outworld. Interestingly, he can not perform his punch to the mid section on the female characters. In such a case, he will split but not punch.
• Liu Kang – Shaolin monk who is the reigning champion of Mortal Kombat. Travels to Outworld to seek vengeance for the death of his Shaolin brothers.
• Raiden – Thunder god who returns to Mortal Kombat to stop Kahn's evil plans of taking the Earthrealm for his own.
• Reptile – Shang Tsung's personal bodyguard. Was made into an original character and given his own moves.
• Scorpion – Hellspawned spectre who returns to the tournament to once again assassinate Sub-Zero.
• Shang Tsung – Evil sorcerer who convinced Kahn to spare his life after losing the last tournament, with a new evil plan to appease his master, who in turn also restores Tsung's youth. He could be considered a playable sub-boss, as the player always fights him before Kintaro.

[edit] Boss and sub-bosses

• Kintaro (Stop-motion) – Kahn's bodyguard, sent by his race to avenge Goro's defeat.
• Shao Kahn – Emperor of Outworld, who wishes to conquer Earthrealm by any means.

[edit] Hidden opponents

• Jade – Green palette swap of Kitana who is invulnerable to projectiles.
• Noob Saibot – Dark silhouetted ninja who is a "lost warrior" from the first MK tournament (derived from the names of creators Boon and Tobias spelled backwards)
• Smoke – Gray palette swap of Scorpion who emits puffs of smoke from his body. He also moves faster than other characters.

Sonya Blade and Kano are the only playable characters from the first Mortal Kombat to not return as regular fighters, though they do appear in the background of the "Kahn's Arena" stage, chained and on display.

[edit] Cast

• Philip Ahn – Shang Tsung
• Richard Divizio – Baraka
• Brian Glynn – Shao Kahn
• Anthony Marquez – Kung Lao
• Ho Sung Pak – Liu Kang
• John Parrish – Jax
• Carlos Pesina – Raiden
• Daniel Pesina – Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Reptile, Smoke, Noob Saibot, Johnny Cage
• Katalin Zamiar – Kitana, Mileena, Jade
• Steve Ritchie – Shao Kahn (voice)

[edit] Audio

Mortal Kombat II was the first arcade game to use the Williams DCS sound system. All Mortal Kombat arcade games to follow would use this sound board, dropping the original Mortal Kombat's inferior Yamaha sound board.

All of the music was composed, performed, recorded and mixed by Dan Forden, the MK series' sound designer and composer.

Mortal Kombat II: Music from the Arcade Game Soundtrack, an album featuring music from Mortal Kombat II and Mortal Kombat was released in July 1994. It could only be purchased by ordering it through a limited offer posted on the arcade version of Mortal Kombat II's demo screen.

[edit] Reception

This section requires expansion.

Mortal Kombat II was awarded Bloodiest Game of 1994 by Electronic Gaming Monthly.^[4] Mortal Kombat II was awarded the 10th best 16-bit game ever by PC World.^[5]

[edit] Ports

[edit] Amiga

The Amiga port of Mortal Kombat II was released at the end of 1994.^[6] Critical reception was mostly favourable, ranging from CU Amiga Magazine's 95% Superstar award^[7] to Amiga Computing's 80% Gold Award.^[8] Amiga Power was particularly critical, awarding 63%.^[9] The Amiga version had sprite sizes and gameplay nearly identical to the Mega Drive/Genesis version however it lacked multi-layered scrolling backgrounds.

[edit] Game Boy

Developed by Probe Entertainment, this port is superior to the Game Boy version of the first game and only contained eight of the twelve playable fighters from the arcade game (lacking Raiden, Baraka, Johnny Cage, and Kung Lao). Shao Kahn was featured as the final boss, but Kintaro was completely removed from the game. He was going to be in, however, and text for him can be found in the ROM. Hidden opponents Jade and Smoke also appear in this port, although Noob Saibot does not. Three of ten Kombat Zones remain from the arcade: the Kombat Tomb, the Pit II and Goro's Lair. The Kombat Tomb contained the port's only stage Fatality and Goro's Lair, like the arcade game, was used exclusively when fighting hidden opponents. Goro's Lair was much simpler in this version and consisted of a brick wall with no openings or glowing eyes. Blood was completely removed, but each character retained a version of one of their fatalities and the babality finishing moves.

[edit] Master System and Game Gear

Developed by Probe Entertainment, these two ports are basically colored versions of the Game Boy port. The Game Gear and Master System ports are almost identical, except for the reduced size of the Game Gear screen. They featured the same fighters and arenas as the Game Boy port (see above) and both Kintaro and Shao Kahn as final bosses, as well as Jade and Smoke as secret opponents.^[10]

Unlike the Game Boy port, blood was present, but in much less quantities than in the other console ports. Also, it's noticeable that, because of the limited graphical resources the systems could manage, some of the Fatalities in the game were altered so they destroyed completely the opponent's body (except for the generic gibs such as bones and assorted limbs used for all the characters). For example, Sub-Zero's Deep Freeze/Uppercut fatality would no longer split the victim in half, instead pulverizing them completely. Also, some of the Fatalities were simplified to use common animations; for example, Liu Kang's Dragon transformation would scorch the opponent with a fireball (similar to the one in Scorpion's Toasty! Fatality), instead of eating his/her upper body.

And strangely enough, the arena where Jade and Smoke are fought in is an exclusive to both the SMS and Game Gear versions.

[edit] Midway Arcade Treasures 2 and others

Mortal Kombat II was re-released in 2004 as a part of Midway Arcade Treasures 2. This version was an emulation of the original Mortal Kombat II arcade game, rather than a port. As a result, this version plays closer to the original Mortal Kombat II arcade game than any version released previous to it. Unfortunately, it suffers from a common graphical bug: each characters' "shadow" sprites flicker. Music and sound effects are also prone to cutting out or playing out of sync. Also, due to a control mapping issue involving the "start button", it is impossible to fight Smoke. However, the "random select" can be activated by pressing up+X on the character select screen.

MKII is also unlockable via a secret code in the game Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks in identical quality to the edition released in Midway Arcade Treasures 2.

It also saw a release on the Sony PSP in Midway Arcade Treasures: Extended Play, but like Midway Arcade Treasures 2, it contains bugs in its graphics. Some graphics have actually been removed: the "far" background in the Kahn's Arena no longer has clouds. This version also suffers from heavy loading times.

[edit] PlayStation

In Japan, Mortal Kombat II was released on the PlayStation. While the graphics in this port remain close to the quality of those featured in the arcade game, the sound quality does not. Instead of utilizing the CD-ROM format and using CD audio tracks, the game uses the PlayStation's own SPU internal sound chip.

Also, the loading times for the Japanese version were long at times. When performing certain actions (such as Shang Tsung's morph ability), the game would show the Mortal Kombat II symbol and it would take about 1 to 2 seconds to load instead of being instant such as some other versions. Another example of this would be when you would do the stage fatality on the Pit II. When the person hits the ground they are supposed to stop screaming, but when they hit the ground they are still screaming.

[edit] PlayStation 3

The PlayStation Network version of MK II is $5.99 and is an arcade perfect port and also features online play. Yet it has been criticized for it's cropped audio and broken SFX.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Sega 32X

Cover art of the 32X version

Developed by Probe Entertainment, this port contained improved graphics over the Sega Genesis counterpart, such as more frames of animation per character, added background details, and faster gameplay. Although there is a broader variety of sound effects than in the Genesis version, the background music is nearly identical to that port, with only tertiary detail added from the 32X's sound processor.^[11] The Japanese port received a subtitle and was named Mortal Kombat II: Kyuukyoku Shinken. ^{JP [12]}

[edit] Sega Genesis/Sega Mega Drive

Developed by Probe Entertainment, this port retained all of the blood and fatalities without a special code having to be entered, unlike the original Mortal Kombat for the system. Unfortunately, due to the system's hardware limitations, the port lacked the graphics and sound of the superior Super NES port. Graphics are more grainy and not as brightly colored, and character shadows are all oval. To compensate, the speed is increased and the sprites are bigger than the SNES version and some of the voices are missing .

Most of the music in this version is altered considerably from the original arcade compositions, and most of the background songs are played on the incorrect stages. Also, Goro's Lair, the secret characters' arena, was removed and replaced with a blue palette swap of the portal stage. Additionally, the ending screens with pictures of the characters have all been removed, instead the ending text scrolls over the character doing his/her victory stance.

Some of the arenas are noticeably missing some details. In "The Dead Pool" arena there are almost no more chains hanging from the ceiling, and the few remaining look like they’re painted on the wall (no perspective). In "Kombat Tomb" the flying dragons which can usually be seen flying in the background have been removed. In "The Tower" the monk levitating before the round window in the center has been removed. His counterparts from "The Portal", on the other hand, have been kept, however they do not float anymore. The trees from "The Living Forest" do not roar anymore. However, their mouths still open from time to time.

Despite its shortcomings, the Genesis/Mega Drive port contains several exclusive Easter eggs. By activating a cheat menu in the options screen, Dan Forden's "Toasty" image is replaced by a crudely drawn sprite inserted by one of Probe Entertainment's programmers. This image, apparently drawn by the programmer's son, was intended as an alternative graphic to the Dan Forden toasty image and also a way to connect the game to Probe, rather than Midway. However, in the final code, the sprite wasn't used. In all cases, the "Toasty!" sound remains unchanged.

Also, if an option entitled "Oooh Nasty!" is enabled in the cheat screen, the player could perform a "Fergality." The player needed to select Raiden and be fighting on the Armory stage to perform it. When successfully executed, the opponent would then transform into a smoking character with an oversized head of former founder and CEO of Probe Entertainment, Fergus McGovern.^[13]

This port also includes some animation differences. One of them is Shang Tsung's victory stance, where he has a laughing animation instead of his still pose in all other ports. This animation can be seen in the arcade only during the game's ending credits when Shang Tsung appears. Baraka's winning stance also ends with him bowing forward with his swords pointing down, instead of ending with him standing straight with his swords crossed over his chest.

[edit] Sega Saturn

Loading times are faster, the graphics have been slightly enhanced and look even closer to the Arcade version, and the music uses CD Quality soundtracks (though still not quite up to par with the original arcade's quality for some reason). It is also missing some sound effects, such as Shao Kahn saying "Round 1" and "Scorpion Wins", and Kitana's death screams. The Saturn version also allowed players to preload certain morphs for Shang Tsung. This reduced pauses during morphs, however produced a glitch where morphing between ninjas was possible. If choose any male ninja (Reptile, Scorpion, Sub-Zero) you can morph to the other two even if they're not selected. The same works for Kitana and Mileena.

[edit] PlayStation Portable

This port was featured on Midway Arcade Treasures:Extended Play. The game's graphics and sound are very close to that of the arcade version, but whenever a fighter performs their fatality the game seems to be choppy and so does the sound. The clouds in the background of the arena "Kahn's arena" don't seem to move unlike the original arcade version. In the same way, the clouds which can usually be seen scrolling through the window in the arena "The Tower" have been completely removed. The game's controls are almost the same as the arcade version also.

[edit] Super Nintendo Entertainment System

This port was developed by Sculptured Software. Unlike the Super NES port of the original Mortal Kombat, Nintendo didn't censor the blood and fatalities this time around. However, they put a warning label on the game's box in order to inform parents about the game's mature content. Also, the sprites are smaller and more blurry to hide the grainy looks.

The Japanese version, however, is censored to a degree, with green blood for all fighters, as well as the screen colors turning black and white for fatalities. However, stage fatalities "The Dead Pool", "Pit II", and "Kombat Tomb" do not turn the screen monochrome. Because of this the player can see even the word Fatality that drips blood is now turned green.

This particular port has a secret intro if the two L and R buttons are held down after turning on the game. A scene between Shao Khan and Kintaro will take place during the Acclaim logo. Also, a special team mode is unlocked by holding down these buttons when pressing Start on the Start/Options screen.

Also exclusive to this port is the use of the Super Nintendo's Mode 7, a texture mapping graphics mode, during the overhead fall on the Pit II's stage fatality. When the opponent is falling, the background scales forward and rotates slightly counter-clockwise. In the arcade, the background only scaled forward.

This port also changed the colors of Cage's costume. In the arcade version, Cage's primary costume is black and blue, and his second costume is black and red. In the SNES/Super Famicom version, it is the opposite.

The US version had two different versions released. The second release fixed some major bugs such as enabling the player to reach Noob Saibot after 50 wins. Also a new company logo is shown at startup (which makes it easy to identify version 1.1 from 1.0, except for the European versions which always had the logo, the North American V1.0 did not) and gameplay demos will run if the game is left alone long enough. Johnny Cage's Shadow kick will also randomly leave a red trail rather than the usual green.

[edit] Hacks and other revisions

While having same features as the preceding hacks, MKII Challenger was notorious for having a difficult ladder.

In the arcade versions, there are only 3 known hacks for MKII, notably MKII Challenger.

• Mortal Kombat II 4.2 – A hacked update of the original (3.1 according to MAME) with a few tweaks, such as fast uppercuts, red shadow for Johnny Cage, fighting Noob Saibot after only six wins, fighting Smoke when Dan Forden comes out in any stage, playing Pong sooner, and easy Dead Pool fatality.^[14]
• Mortal Kombat II 9.1 – A very rare hack for MKII, but is mostly similar to the previous hack, 4.2.^[15]
• Mortal Kombat II Challenger – A popular hack for MKII. It features a very difficult ladder which can be started with a secret character (Smoke or Noob), or Kintaro, and infinite time for fatalities. Other features are similar to the two previous hacks, 4.2 and 9.1.^[16]
• Mortal Kombat II Revision 2.1 – While not a hack, this was a very rare official revision of MKII where during the "Finish "Him/Her" sequence of the game, the player could perform multiple finishing moves in the normally allotted time. Constant Babalaties could be performed, causing numerous babies to appear on screen. Performing the character's Fatality would usually end the sequence entirely. If a Fatality is performed after a Babality or a Friendship, the opponent's image would typically freeze on screen (regardless if the "baby version" of the opponent was already on screen.) rather than go through the Fatality animation.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Mortal Kombat II at MobyGames
• Individual move lists optimized for a secondary display at MortalKombatII.net
• Mortal Kombat II at The Killer List of Videogames